Siddharth Coutto Goes Solo

Helga’s Fun Castle, formed in mid-late 2004, was the project that saw Siddharth Coutto come to prominence as a vocalist. Having previously been behind the collective limelight, and the drums of Zero, Coutto made HFC the quintessential Indian rock supergroup. The first thing he said to me when I asked him about taking the mic in this new project (in an interview with HFC back in late 2004, when they were still Helga’s Funk Castle) was, “I was always a singer, man.”

Now, Coutto’s getting ready to release his debut solo album. He writes on his MySpace

Hi. I’m Sidd. I love music. I love humour. When you put together these exquisite passions, you pretty much end up with nothing useful, unless youâ??re Weird Al. Luckily, I write songs, sing, drum, play guitar*, program** and produce music too. Music and humour are my life. What I do for work is compose music and/or produce it. What I do for fun is compose music and/or produce it. Have I mentioned music is life?? Haha.*** And humour. Iâ??ve been in some fairly popular rock bands (Pearl Jam, Steely Dan and the Eagles)**** I’ve finally written my solo album. Woohoo!! I’m in the process of producing it right now. ***** And I’m putting together a band to play the stuff live.

Up on his profile are three songs to sample

‘Concert Piano’
‘Voices In My Head’
‘Happy’

The music is very Ben Folds-ish in its style and delivery, and given Coutto’s penchant for improvisation (‘Cows On Parade’ anyone), the live act should be fun.